SRU among Washington Monthly’s ‘best bang for the buck’ institutions

Sept. 6, 2019

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — Slippery Rock University has been ranked among the nation's top 200 "Best Bang for the Buck" colleges in the Northeast by Washington Monthly.

Washington Monthly is a nonprofit magazine recognized for their annual rankings of American colleges and universities. The rankings identify schools "that promote upward mobility, produce scholars and scholarship, and encourage their students to be active citizens."

Washington Monthly ranks schools based on how they help students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.

Schools considered for the rankings had to meet the following qualifications:
● Be listed in the U.S Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.
● Have a 2018 Carnegie basic classification of being a research, master's, baccalaureate or baccalaureate/associate's degree college.
● Not recognized exclusively as a graduate school.
● Participate in federal financial aid programs.
● Be open for the fall 2019 semester.

Other factors considered include the presence of community and national service, social mobility and research. Top-ranked schools needed to be "excellent across all three measures to qualify." In order to ensure that each measurement contributed equally to a college's score within any given category, data elements were standardized so that each had a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one, unless noted.

Slippery Rock University was one of ten schools from Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education to make the list. Other schools included Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg, West Chester, Millersville, Lock Haven, Kutztown, California, Shippensburg University, Mansfield and Indiana.

The complete rankings can be viewed by clicking here.

MEDIA CONTACT: Lesa Bressanelli | 724.738.2091 | lnb1009@sru.edu